[WIP] Bring Lightnings back [Archive] - SUBSIM Radio Room Forums

kapitan_zur_see

08-04-07, 09:21 PM

Okay guys, some of you may already know this wip. Just decided to create a new topic to reflect our achievment so far. Me, CaptainCox and Wovik are working on bringing the lightnings back in the game. The two last are mainly working on tweaking .dat files while i focus now on graphics. Just wanted to show some Screenshots, feedback would be greatly appreciated :up:

http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/7285/stormtestuf6.jpg

(http://img384.imageshack.us/my.php?image=stormtest1kq0.jpg)http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/715/stormtest1kq0.th.jpg (http://img384.imageshack.us/my.php?image=stormtest1kq0.jpg)http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/586/stormtest2jw8.th.jpg (http://img384.imageshack.us/my.php?image=stormtest2jw8.jpg)http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/3375/stormtest3mz0.th.jpg (http://img114.imageshack.us/my.php?image=stormtest3mz0.jpg)http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/1363/stormtest4ge0.th.jpg (http://img114.imageshack.us/my.php?image=stormtest4ge0.jpg)http://img365.imageshack.us/img365/9531/stormtest5nb5.th.jpg (http://img365.imageshack.us/my.php?image=stormtest5nb5.jpg)http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/5210/stormtest6mn0.th.jpg (http://img114.imageshack.us/my.php?image=stormtest6mn0.jpg)

Misfit138

08-04-07, 09:38 PM

Holy sh*t! :o

Looks incredible! :rock: :up:

Hope this doesn't mean that I'm actually starting to like the storms...

WilhelmSchulz.

08-04-07, 11:51 PM

Nice!

602Sqn_Puff

08-05-07, 12:44 AM

Fantastic mate...great work

Fearless

08-05-07, 02:44 AM

Awesome stuff guys:up:

chopped50ford

08-05-07, 03:37 AM

unbelievable...when will it be available. Cant wait to D/L it. :)

WilhelmTell

08-05-07, 03:47 AM

Holladiewaldfee !:up:

This looks very athmospheric!
Hopefully you guys don't take that long :lol:.
Can't wait for this ...

Regards,
Tell

Steel_Tomb

08-05-07, 04:38 AM

Thats very nice! Hope it will be ready for download soon!

Capt. Shark Bait

08-05-07, 08:04 AM

:o :rock: SH4 just keeps gettin better and better:rock:

Jhereg

08-05-07, 08:07 AM

Looks outstanding guys! The whole thunder everywhere and no lightning to be seen is disconcerting, and breaks the immersion for me during storms. This will be a significant boost to the game.:up: You modders really are amazing, thanks.

momo55

08-05-07, 09:09 AM

Mon dieu ..mon dieu ! C'est fabuleux et magnifique...bon travaille les gas.
Omg ..omg ! It's fabules and magnificent...good work men.

EAGLE_01

08-05-07, 12:40 PM

Looks truely real. Amazing work. Will there be a half second flash of light along with it? Thats the only thing I can think of that would make it even better...:up: You mod guys ROCK!!

ReallyDedPoet

08-05-07, 12:42 PM

Looks awsome lads, a welcome addition to the game\experience :yep:

RDP

CaptainCox

08-05-07, 01:40 PM

Been playing with this again today. Not conclusive i must say. As it is now i am trying to get the lighting visible in daylight (well dusky daylight as its overcast during a thunder storm) so far no go.

I opened a thread in the SH3 forum and Diving Duck sort a hinted at the "self illuminating" value in the hex code. Have not yet had time to look at it though.

Other then that, to make this really perfect one would also have to tweak
@lightning_reflection_on_water01-4
and
@lightning_reflection_on_sky01-4

found in the materials.dat

A lot of stuff here. I wonder if the best would be to wait for Skwasjer's 2nd edition of the S3D tool...or just dig in and do it old school.

In the Lightning tweakfile I ported

"Unnamed effect Lightning 1-4"
"Life" and "Rate"

These values controls the duration and "pulse/animation" of the lightning anyway.

kapitan_zur_see

08-05-07, 02:55 PM

Looks truely real. Amazing work. Will there be a half second flash of light along with it? Thats the only thing I can think of that would make it even better...:up: You mod guys ROCK!!

Yes, there's a flash to go along with it ;)
Anyway thank you guys for all the feedback. Currently, the main concern is the lightings not following your sub path. Meaning if you travel a few miles away, you can still hear thunder but lightning is still stuck at the same place, not following you...

Thanks CaptainCox for reflection thing, i'll have to check on that definitevely! hard to figure out in HEX though... Can't wait for new S3D

CaptainCox

08-05-07, 03:18 PM

Yep those textures looks the stuff :up:
As I explained there are SO!!!! many parameters here with the
Particle.dat
Materials.dat
Scene.dat

And in the materials.dat you have 3 big chunks of stuff that needs to be looked at

@lightning_reflection_on_water0 1-4
@lightning_system01 1-4
@lightning_reflection_on_sky0 1-4

etc etc.
So either really roll up the sleeves here and get more peeps looking at it or simply wait for the S3D tool...
So far we got a decent looking "lightning mod" but it has many flaws

No lightning in daylight conditions
Lightning is spread out over an area (not showing up in one spot) but it does not move with the boat...at least not the way I have the "test mission" set up.

So there are many things to be solved/fixed. The more peeps that chip in the better I think ;)

Delusory

08-05-07, 04:32 PM

well, i think the lightning shouldn't "follow" the sub, but the storm it self. Maybe the devs tried to do this and just couldn't do in the given time, so they abandoned the idea. :oops:

Weather-guesser

08-05-07, 04:38 PM

I don't know if I would be playing this anymore without all the hard work from all you guys. CHEERS! :up:

CaptainCox

08-05-07, 04:51 PM

well, i think the lightning shouldn't "follow" the sub, but the storm it self. Maybe the devs tried to do this and just couldn't do in the given time, so they abandoned the idea. :oops:Now this I totally agree with. Maybe just leave it as it is. But we still have to crack the daylight thingy/transparacy

kapitan_zur_see

08-05-07, 07:20 PM

[/quote]Now this I totally agree with. Maybe just leave it as it is. But we still have to crack the daylight thingy/transparacy[/quote]

Yeah you right, main concern for now. As for myself, i also won't be truly satisfied unless my eyes catch those reflection on sky and water effect should it work :smug: i shouldn't have saw those two, now can't help to be obsessed with them eheh :ping:

But yep, it's on the good way boys, hope we will have something good enough to be released soon

Fearless

08-05-07, 08:37 PM

Bluesub 6

08-06-07, 01:55 AM

well, i think the lightning shouldn't "follow" the sub, but the storm it self. Maybe the devs tried to do this and just couldn't do in the given time, so they abandoned the idea. :oops:
I agree also. Perhaps there's a variable in the scene.dat file that adjusts random lightning locations.

scene.dat cat32:
Lightning
Height = 20
MinDistance = 120
MaxDistance = 180
MinTime = 10
MaxTime = 20

There nothing else about locations.

CaptainCox

08-06-07, 03:15 AM

I think for location and stuff we need to look at the
"Particles.dat"
and the
"Materials.dat"

There are a lot of parameters there but :p

Delusory

08-06-07, 04:30 AM

I'm not a modder, but maybe there're some files that are related with the weather? Where it would write how the game renders weather in the campain.:hmm:

CaptainCox

08-06-07, 12:42 PM

Ok, a small breakthrough on the daylight lightning front ;)

This pic was taken around 9AM (morning) game time
http://img473.imageshack.us/img473/8450/daylightlightningkb7.jpg

As far as i know (and this is the hard bit, as you tend to change a lot of stuff, and then its hard to remember what you actually did :p)
I (think I ) did these changes in the Materials.dat

As there are 4 Lightning groups I will show them as 1-4

Lifetime 1@ 0058F597=1.5 (FLOAT)
Transparent 1@ 0058F5D1=100 (BYTE)
Opacity 1@ 0058FB03=0 (I THINK THIS IS THE ONE!!!) FLOAT

Lifetime 2@ 005F191D=1.5 (FLOAT)
Transparent 2@ 005F1957=100 (BYTE)
Opacity 2@ 005F1E89=0 (I THINK THIS IS THE ONE!!!) FLOAT

Lifetime 3@ 005F3596=1.5 (FLOAT)
Transparent 3@ 005F35D0=100 (BYTE)
Opacity 3@ 005F3B02=0 (I THINK THIS IS THE ONE!!!) FLOAT

Lifetime 4@ 006153B2=1.5 (FLOAT)
Transparent 4@ 006153EC=100 (BYTE)
Opacity 4@ 0061591E=0 (I THINK THIS IS THE ONE!!!) FLOAT

If someone wants to try it out here is a small Tweakfile I did (should be run with the rest of the settings we found in the Scene.dat

Lightning Transparency Tweakfile:
http://files.filefront.com/Lightning+Transparencyrar/;8243019;;/fileinfo.html (http://files.filefront.com/Lightning+Transparencyrar/;8243019;;/fileinfo.html)

Small edit on this, I found that setting the Mindis=40 and Maxdis=80-100 really gives you lightning in a complete circle around the boat. At least in the test mission I did.

chopped50ford

08-06-07, 01:43 PM

I wish I had the talents to tweak, mod and add to the files of this or any games.

I have the deepest respect to you and everyones (DEV's) hard work to making this a "perfect" game.

Also, is this Tweak file a JSME loadable mod?

Thanks again.

CaptainCox

08-06-07, 01:49 PM

No, sorry, this is for manually "tweaking" the data. You need to run it with Minitweaker and then set the values to what ever you want. I think we are not to far away from a "beta" release at least...

I would like to have LeoVampire to include this in hes next LBO mod as it is using the scene.dat. I hope he wont mind.

chopped50ford

08-06-07, 01:58 PM

awesome, as always...Thanks again.

Seaman_Hornsby

08-06-07, 03:12 PM

Promising looking work, skippers! This is definitely one to watch. Thanks for your efforts to make this game better guys! :up:

Canonicus

08-06-07, 06:11 PM

CC...I've been following this work very closely with keen interest and made all the changes to the various files that are involved and still....

I don't seem to be able to get the lightning to show up....

If you could, very breifly, summarize the procedures you and kapitan_zur_see have been using. That may clear up any problems i seem to be having to getting this to work. ( maybe of help to others, as well)

I know your busy with this, so any help would be appreciated.

Cheers, man.:up:

CaptainCox

08-07-07, 05:02 AM

I have been using this "test" mission that is set to heavy weather. Did this as its faster then to wait for bad weather to appear in a career.
So 1st download that and install with JSGME

Heavy Weather Mission:
http://files.filefront.com/HEAVY+WEATHERrar/;8248499;;/fileinfo.html
Use Quick Mission
And select the mission called "Mission title"
when the mission is loaded hit "RETURN TO GAME"

I did this little tweakfile so its easier to do stuff
Lightning Main Settings in scene.dat
http://files.filefront.com/Lightning++Main+Settings+erar/;8248816;;/fileinfo.html
Height=20
(Height) is setting the textures height over the water
Mindistance=60
Maxdistance=130
(Min/Maxdistance) can be set to a lower value, but I found that the lightning shows up in a bigger area with this setting.
Mintime=3
Maxtime=5
(Min/Maxtime) is setting the rate of lightning, the lower the more often it will strike.

In the Particle.dat
Use the tweakfile I ported found here
http://files.filefront.com/Lightningrar/;8190228;;/fileinfo.html
In the "Unnamed effect lightning 1-4"
Life=1.5 (could be set higher for a longer visible lightning)
Rate=1 (this controls the "pulse" of the lightning)

In the Materials.dat
Use the tweakfile for "Lightning Transparency" I did found here
http://files.filefront.com/Lightning+Transparencyrar/;8243019;;/fileinfo.html
In Lightning 1-4 set the values to
Lifetime=1.5
Transparent=100
Opacity=0

FooFighters

08-07-07, 05:46 AM

This is gonna be an awesome mod :rock:

Keep ut the fantastic work

Foo
;)

CaptainCox

08-07-07, 08:21 AM

Just a small EDIT! here
I was checking some stuff and noticed that its
In the Materials.dat
Use the tweakfile for "Lightning Transparency" I did found here
http://files.filefront.com/Lightning.../fileinfo.html (http://files.filefront.com/Lightning+Transparencyrar/;8243019;;/fileinfo.html)
In Lightning 1-4 set the values to
Lifetime=1.5
Transparent=100
Opacity=0
Transparent that sets if its visible daytime or not. You can try setting that to 255 if you like, that's max!

A small side effect here is that the lightning is visible (ghosted) through structures, like the conning tower etc, but as far as I know this is a problem with lights anyway in SH3/SH4

CaptainCox

08-07-07, 10:33 AM

Digital_Trucker

08-07-07, 11:04 AM

Leave it right where it is, CC, and we can start modding towards a new game of the Sci-Fi variety. I'm thinking laser AA guns and photon torpedoes to blast the amoebas (or is it amoebi?) with. Capt. Kirk, out:rotfl: Beam me up, Scotty.

WilhelmTell

08-07-07, 01:45 PM

Was playing around with "Self illumination" MANY THANKS TO Privateer for this info!!

http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/9140/stronglightko9.jpg

I think I might have cranked it up tad to much :p
Looks more like "Amoebas from Outer Space"

Will find a good setting for this and up it ASAP.
As it is now the lightning is TOTALLY visible trough solid objects...will dig a bit more for that one.
This looks like flying giant jellyfish :D!

Seriously, you guys are doing a great job. I know you'll find a way that this will work to everyone's liking.

Regards,
Tell

kapitan_zur_see

08-07-07, 03:19 PM

Was playing around with "Self illumination" MANY THANKS TO Privateer for this info!!

http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/9140/stronglightko9.jpg

I think I might have cranked it up tad to much :p
Looks more like "Amoebas from Outer Space"

Will find a good setting for this and up it ASAP.
As it is now the lightning is TOTALLY visible trough solid objects...will dig a bit more for that one.

Gee CaptainCox!! you're making some serious progress here!! But now, guess i have to make new textures in light of this achievement ;) Your help is top notch! Could you PM me your tweaked files? (complete with self illumination. Where's it located by the way?)

Safe-Keeper

08-07-07, 03:37 PM

Ah, yes, the American electro-boat prototype:up:. Discontinued because of how heavily it charged the air around it. The trail of lightning bolts were a dead give-away to Japanese destroyers:cry:.

Spike

08-07-07, 07:14 PM

If this could work w/ this mod http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=119978 I would be very happy...

leovampire

08-07-07, 09:04 PM

in the scene dat file I put min distance to 30 instead of 60 and got this

http://static.filefront.com/images/personal/l/leovampire/93141/iesxdiilvw.thumb250.jpg (http://gallery.filefront.com/leovampire//707475/)

The lightning slowly rotates in varying distances in a clockwise direction around the sub from very close to a good visable disatance and lights up the sub a crew pretty good. Now will try your new transparencies and what not to see the changes.

But changing the Life to 1.5 makes the lightning flash too quick and the thunder only lasts as long as the lightning flashes. And btw C.C. if you didn't know it children is how many off branches the lightning has in each strike.

And thanks for the test mission for the lightning because it is helping me finish my storm sea's for the revision of Living Breathing Ocean.

Now very the lifetime between each lighting strike like 13 for Lightning 1 // 12 for Lightning 2 // 11 for Lightning 3 // and 10 for Lightning 4 and you get more differn't types of flashes and differn't sounding thunder to go with them. Another words trying to make each strike unique give's a wider variety of effect's in the thunder storm.

Capt. Shark Bait

08-07-07, 10:27 PM

will there be a delay between when the bolt strikes and when it's heard, varying on distance?

Ducimus

08-07-07, 10:44 PM

Wow, just wow. Im speechless, good job guys.

leovampire

08-07-07, 10:48 PM

I changed the density from 1 to 1.1 and this is what I got for a result

http://static.filefront.com/images/personal/l/leovampire/93141/rjebaxumbx.thumb250.jpg (http://gallery.filefront.com/leovampire//707657/) http://static.filefront.com/images/personal/l/leovampire/93141/ftlxmvbkny.thumb250.jpg (http://gallery.filefront.com/leovampire//707656/) http://static.filefront.com/images/personal/l/leovampire/93141/nshmxbfcmh.thumb250.jpg (http://gallery.filefront.com/leovampire//707838/) http://static.filefront.com/images/personal/l/leovampire/93141/jpvbsfaloi.thumb250.jpg (http://gallery.filefront.com/leovampire//707996/)

So maybe as we increase the density slowly we can get brighter effects between night and day.

And yes capt shark bait there is a sound delay according to distance if you have that checked off in the menu of the game. If you have a suround system set up on your PC you can tell where the lightning is strikeing from around your possition as well. And the light reflection you see on the sub also shows you what direction it is comming from.

By the way Captain Cox if you change the weight in unnamed effect lightning 1 through 4 from 0.0001 to 1.1 you get a much better view of the bolt and the childern through the weather effects. Now I just need to test it at night.

The 3rd picture is after changing the weight and weight scale in unnamed effect lightning and lightning 1-4 all to 1.1 and as you can see they get brighter and can make out the bolt and it's children a lot better.

And if you change the opacity as you see in the 4th picture the lightning stands out beyond the other effects. Opacity is the ability to see a pictures image and color through other effects like fog and what not. Now I went to an extream like 1 instead of 0 and you see the total difference it makes.

CaptainCox

08-08-07, 01:56 AM

Smashing work there Leo! As I said I am off to Munich like NOW! :p
So no time to fiddle with this. Will do 1st thing in the morn but!

If you find more stuff please PM or post here...I think we might be pretty close to somet here ;)

Capt. Shark Bait

08-08-07, 03:51 AM

f00k3n geniuses, the lot of ye:rock:

jaketoox

08-08-07, 03:54 AM

Here's my pics...;)

http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/0990224c7ef44038ff632df357980c382g.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=0jtjxoieh93&thumb=4)

http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/335be7b6ce955cf541a8dc5b187dd0972g.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=399edlmg4h0&thumb=4)

CaptainCox

08-08-07, 05:16 AM

Julius Caesar

08-08-07, 08:17 AM

looking good, guys. :up:

Weather-guesser

08-08-07, 08:36 AM

Geniuses! :rock:

jaketoox

08-08-07, 08:55 AM

I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but seems like when you start to see stars you also start to see the lightning...i used capt.Cox's heavy weather mission which starts at 18.00... tried tc and maybe 10-15 min before 19.00 i started to see the stars as well as the lightning....are they somehow related..????.....

edit:...i have no problems with lightning showing through solid objects....dunno if it has something to do with hardware and drivers settings...few days ago i got brand new 7600 gt ,my old g-card was radeon 9700 pro and with that i could see sun shining through the conning tower sometimes......must have something to do with shaders support maybe....

CaptainCox

08-08-07, 10:16 AM

I think it has to do with the Opacity/Transparency you have set there. If you try the settings that Leo posted earlier, you will also see the lightning during daylight. I mean the stars are supposed to come at night ;) lightning however should be visible when ever there is a thunder storm around.

Those bolts through solid objects are still haunting me here. Will have another stab at it:p

When testing this stuff you could set the
Precip=0
to
Precip=2

In the SM12 rain doc in that Misson I did.
This will make it rain heavily, its more realistic to what actually happens in game (carrer wise), and then you will see that there is a slight problem with our previous settings. The lightning become barley (if at all ) visible, if we don't crank up that Transparency...but with the side effect of seeing it through objects as i show in my previous post.

If someone find a sweet spot, please post here.

Canonicus

08-08-07, 10:31 AM

Just wondering...has anyone actually tested these changes by staring a career and then driving around using TC untill heavy weather appears?

Well ..I have... and.. (not sure this is bad news)..but it seems that the combination of heavy precip with heavy fog = NO LIGHTNING. Still hear thunder though.

I've never encounterd heavy precip without there being heavy fog present and I've tested this out about two dozen times, i think.
I'm not sure about other combinations , ie..light precip/light fog...medium precip/light fog..etc. Seems to me these combinations need to be included in any testing too.

I guess it's one thing to have ideal conditions in a test mission and another thing to try to duplicate it when the variables are all in play.
Food for thought, maybe.:hmm:

CaptainCox

08-08-07, 11:31 AM

Very good points there. My thinking was to get it visible at worst possible conditions, and take it from there.
Just if you guys want to try this out

In the Mission folder you have these parameters to play with (these are just the setting I happened to have at the mo)
If you want to play with the settings etc.

Fog=2
FogRand=0
Clouds=2
CloudsRand=0
Precip=2
PrecipRand=0
WindHeading=0
WindSpeed=15.000000
WindRand=2
WeatherRndInterval=2
SeaType=0

But my biggest prob at the mo is that Transparency prob through solids...

Canonicus

08-08-07, 11:46 AM

But my biggest prob at the mo is that Transparency prob through solids...

CC..I think jaketoox is maybe right about this being a graphics card situation.
You have an 8800....try turning on the Gamma AA in the nHancer control.

In the game you'll see that having that ON...makes the sun halo disappear...BUT...
it also eliminates the sun being able to be transparent through solid objects.
I suspect this may also apply to the lighning, as well

CaptainCox

08-08-07, 11:58 AM

Hm... have had that set to Coverage Sample x16 all the time :hmm:
Running some tests here, so far inconclusive. I wonder how this stuff looks in SH3?
I might just set me up a test mission and check it out, maybe it has the same prob.

Canonicus

08-08-07, 12:26 PM

Actually CC.. the setting is called gamma correction. Should be a little check box next to it.

This is an added feature that enhance's your AA setting, no matter what that might be..2x,8x..etc.

BTW..an UPDATE....turning it on has NO effect on lightning transparency though solids.

My concern is the apparent inability for the test mission results to be duplicated in actual game environment. So far, I have not seen the lightning when in career mode.. out on patrol.. in heavy weather. Athough I still hear thunder.
I wonder...WHY! :damn:

Delusory

08-08-07, 12:44 PM

maybe you are way too far too see it? Try to get closer to the sound, if you can make out from where it comes :hmm:

CaptainCox

08-08-07, 12:56 PM

I just ran a Stock mission in SH3, set it up like we have it set up in SH4. Same thing! The lightning is sort a localized. I took off south and no lightning, only sound.
:hmm: I used the Courageous Mission, simply put the

Fog=2
FogRand=1
Clouds=2
CloudsRand=1
Precip=2
PrecipRand=0
WindHeading=0
WindSpeed=7.000000
WindRand=0
WeatherRndInterval=5
SeaType=0
Tried to see if the lightning is as visible through solids as it is when we set the Opacity high. But cause the German Subs dont have the tall structures its hard to catch. Will do some more tweaks so the lightning is visible longer and try to catch one behind the boat.

@Canonicus Cheers for checking the AA there ;)

CaptainCox

08-08-07, 01:14 PM

Pretty crappy SS but it shows that this works as it should in SH3
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/4539/shot1186596291copyjw2.jpg

Now...well lets start digging :p I think also the new enviroment engine/code in SH4 might have a lot to do with our problem here.

leovampire

08-08-07, 03:59 PM

I raised the density levels but I have a feeling as I lower those little by little it will no longer bee seen through the subs and structures. BTW C.C. I sent you what I have set up now. I will finish my work on it today.

As it stands right now with what I sent you C.C. I have the lightning at a pretty close to realistic level just needs a little more tweeking.

I got the lightning to randomize a lot more and show up at night time as well as day time. Got the lightning to do slight rotaions to make the children branches show up differntly from time to time. Also got the lightning to appear at differn't distances and sometimes it will actualy walk it's way accross the sky as it strikes. Evend out the thunder better to match it new strike work. Also got it to change from time to time the speed of the strikes to get differn't effects.

Just need to tweek the number of repeat strikes from a single lightning class.

http://static.filefront.com/images/personal/l/leovampire/93141/eezukaiptr.thumb250.jpg (http://gallery.filefront.com/leovampire//709111/) http://static.filefront.com/images/personal/l/leovampire/93141/bldqrwitdm.thumb250.jpg (http://gallery.filefront.com/leovampire//709203/)

Unfortunatly these photo's don't do the work justtice because in game they look fantastic. But as you can see I got the branch children to randomize more in shape and lighting. But it is now hard to capture a screen shot with them appearing a lot more realisticly.

Canonicus

08-08-07, 04:41 PM

Leo...did you get your changes to show up in the game, not just in the test mission?...
I ask because i hav'nt seen it, and I've started new careers several times, ( more like a couple of dozen times), doing testing to try to get the lightning to make an appearance.

so far..its a no show.

Any ideas?

leovampire

08-08-07, 05:00 PM

and sound right first havn't worried about the campaign yet. But I don't see why it wouldn't work in all parts of the game because my changes show up instantly for my new LBO work so it should for the lightning as well.

If you have a save game that is in the middle of a storm it does act a little screwy and you have to run for a couple of hours until the game gives you a weather report that says light or heavy percipitation because at first when you go to a saved game it dosn't seem to achnoledge it.

But I just posted a new pic on what the lightning looks like so far.

The only thing that is a pain now is doing a still capture. I got the lightning down to such a realistic flash and randomization position that it took me almost a half hour to capture those last 2 photo's.

The depthbias seems to control the objects apearing through another object at the same place at the same time so I am slowly lowering it to get a good blend C.C.

leovampire

08-08-07, 07:14 PM

I have put over 72 hours total into this and I am getting burnt out.

The lightning is as realistic as possable in thunder match and randomization of strikes and change of apearance and locations and rotations of the bolts and changes to the branches and have it show up both day and night through any lighting and fog effect. The only thing I could not solve is it showing up through the sub or anything else other than water. But if people are looking that hard to find the flaws and capture the lightning bolts in a still shot to see what is wrong with it then no one will apreaciate the work we all did.

I sent you a P.M. with all the files and work and it includes the barker funell smoke for the ships and the 9km viewing distance and under water 30m view and better fire and explosion effects.

Have fun buddy. I need to try and finish the ocean effects and start playing the game before I forget why I am doing this LOL!!!!!

ReallyDedPoet

08-08-07, 07:24 PM

All of this is appreciated lads :yep: Thanks a million:up:

RDP

Fearless

08-08-07, 10:03 PM

Great effort by all concerned:up:

CaptainCox

08-09-07, 01:21 AM

@Leo, we are just on our way here, will check this out 1st thing when back tonight! Thanks for all the input and work.:sunny:

Capt. Shark Bait

08-09-07, 05:52 AM

Capt. Shark Bait

08-09-07, 06:08 AM

All of this is appreciated lads :yep: Thanks a million:up:

RDP

yeah, what he said:rock:

java`s revenge

08-09-07, 06:23 AM

Why don`t you make a downloadable mod?

Argus00

08-09-07, 08:43 AM

Like the title says, it's Work In Progress.

Weather-guesser

08-09-07, 08:44 AM

Why don`t you make a downloadable mod?

WIP= Work In Progress. Take your time lads. Afinished product is well worth the wait. Now git! :yep:

CaptainCox

08-09-07, 03:16 PM

I would like leovampire to add this to hes next installment of LBO. I think its the only way as its one of the topnotch need to have mods out!...and it includes the scene.dat, which this mod needs.

Would that be ok Leo?. I know you are busy busy with LBO and stuff so...
I will look in to tweaking it further, maybe have some other peeps test it etc.

Also @kapitan_zur_see, would you like to tweak the texture further or?

I will also be honest and say I will check this in the morn 1st thing as i am dead after a 5h drive and 2h traffic jam...IN CONSTANT RAIN! :p

We did not go to Munich after all, we went to Verdun ;) Brilliant! bloody brilliant!!!
Fort Douaumont was the highlight this summer I tell you. And yea i am a sad historic buff that rather lingers in WWI bunkers then laying on the beach ;)

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a138/CaptainCox/P1010031.jpg
One of the many gun/cannon turrets up top side

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a138/CaptainCox/P1010027.jpg
Corridors for miles! (here my son is contemplating history ;) )

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a138/CaptainCox/P1010022.jpg

The fort from the outside (this fort took some heavy artillery hits, I tell ya!

Off to Laboe next weekend to check out the U-995 (VIIC) ;)

leovampire

08-09-07, 05:22 PM

Captain Cox and I plan on giving you the scene file for it before it is posted. But right now 2 people other than you are testing what I did so far for LBO and the lightning with the strickt understanding that it stays with them until you and I say differn't.

But the texture work that kapitan_zur_see did is already top notch and works very well with the modifcations to the scene, particle and materials files unless you want to change the color but even that can be done by the materials file without changing the actual image's as you pointed out in that P.M. you sent me showing the HEX code for color.

I got rid of the strainge halo effect of close lightning strikes and left it for the one's further away to make it look like the fog is enhancing the glow of the strike. And left the light blueish color for the close up strikes seeing electricity usualy does ark in a bluish color then for the distant striks made them more whitish do to the fog effect again. I based this on pictures I saw on the internet from all the storm chaser web site's in the U.S.

The rest of the changes I made I just experimented with until I found a good work around for differn't sounding thunder claps for the differn't lightning bolts and distance of the strike. Then the roations and changes between how fast the bolt actualy travels changes from time to time between the strikes as well as the branch children looking like they change between strike's when actualy it is the rotation and movment of the bolt it's self. That hardest part come's in when you get the timming of the bolt's where or near where they should be you have to wait for the next bolt and it happens fast enough where it is hard to tell what happens to make changes now.

C.C. the first lifetime numbers matches up the thunder and bolt together so if you lower that too much then the thunder only occurs at the split second the bolt starts and then end's yes the quick flash can be cool but the thunder gets all screwed up.

kapitan_zur_see

08-09-07, 06:27 PM

thank you guys ;)

Yep, working on a new texture set is already on my "top ten things to do next in my life" lol :know: Anyway, making something better is tailored to tweaking of files so leo could you please pm me your tweaked files so i can start something based on that? i'm definitevely no good at hex editing :hmm: Guess i'll have to stick with After Effects for that one! Good thing is, there was a close thunderstorm right "above" my house yesterday so i just had the oppurtunity to take some reference photos with my camera. Might help :cool:

Anyway, i got to play with that TGA size value in materials.dat. Hope it does give the ability to use Bigger tga files cause for now, game engine just resize them down automatically. This could give me a HELL lots of room for improvement...

Fearless

08-09-07, 06:49 PM

momo55

08-09-07, 07:01 PM

@CaptainCox
At a 30 min. walk from my place you can find this atlantikwallmuseum;) http://users.pandora.be/alex.deseyne/

At about 30 min.drive from my place you can find this trenches of death
http://groups.msn.com/TheWesternFrontWW1/diksmuide.msnw

There is even a russian sub somewhere at a 45 min. drive ....
http://seafront.be/

Whenever you need a little break from modding and stretch your legs ....and recharge your battery...:lol:

GREAT WORK GUY'S :up:

p3cewo

08-09-07, 07:59 PM

Postponed that trip :p

Is there a setting that blocks the lightning with solid objects?
The more we crank up the opacity the more you see the lightning trough the boat, but on the other hand, if the value is to small we can't see the lightning in fog and heavy rain, especially when its dark. There must be a setting or at least some good balance for this.

http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/1076/opacityze6.jpg

Any thoughts?

WOW!!! Fantastic work folks!! Please keep it up!! It looks great :up:

The only thing I would add is in reference to the "can't see the lightning in fog and heavy rain, " In my experience. On the water in heavy rain and fog. One doesn't normally see lightning bolts anyway. Especially at night. Only thing you see is an ominous light show that illumiates the fog an rain uniformally around the unseen bolt with less intensity the further from the origin. Close bolts light up the fog all around you, but if you actually are close enough to see the bolt, it may be too late for you :lol:

Not sure if that type of effect is modeled in the engine or even possible to simulate?? And also aggree that the lightning should follow the storm, not the boat. Probably "working as intended"?? hehe

The work you guys have done is already light years ahead of the baseline. Very nice job!!

BTW CC, if you haven't already, and get the chance. The U-boat memorial outside Kiel is absolutely worth visiting. A memory I will never forget.

kapitan_zur_see

08-10-07, 02:54 PM

mmm :hmm: i think i've finally found a way to increase lightnings resolution, so i'm now working on a new texture set. I'll show you guys how things are evolving. I'm about to post some screenies. :up:

leovampire

08-10-07, 04:57 PM

I sent you all the files in a P.M. per your request.

kapitan_zur_see

08-10-07, 08:27 PM

thank you leo ;) i just happened to tweak them myself to some extent in order to work in the meantime. But i'm glad to have yours now.
BTW, just wanted to thank LeoVampire who is now actively working on this mod

And yep... GREAT NEWS!!! :up:
I found the way to make some High-Res textures and to make them appears ingame as such :rock:
I'm so happy with that! So, i just made a new (still to be improved, you might even see some glitches) texture set on the fly (done in some purplish colour to introduce some difference). I'd be more than happy to read your comments about it :ping:

Here's some screenies:

Okay, just to make the comparison, my first attempt:

http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/586/stormtest2jw8.th.jpg (http://img384.imageshack.us/my.php?image=stormtest2jw8.jpg)As you can see, its very much low-res...:down:

And now, the new set:

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/7052/lightninghires8ny3.th.jpg (http://img72.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lightninghires8ny3.jpg)http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/4438/lightninghires1gy1.th.jpg (http://img518.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lightninghires1gy1.jpg)http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/7936/lightninghires3na4.th.jpg (http://img263.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lightninghires3na4.jpg)http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/6010/lightninghires4ir0.th.jpg (http://img518.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lightninghires4ir0.jpg)http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/4963/lightninghires6fx5.th.jpg (http://img263.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lightninghires6fx5.jpg)

... See next post ...

kapitan_zur_see

08-10-07, 08:28 PM

Misfit138

08-10-07, 09:06 PM

And my last two favorites... Now i believe they call this a thunderstorm :know:

That's it guys, still have some work to do as you can see ;) but it's getting there

God, that looks really nice! :rock:

Think I'm going to need to change my pants now... :huh:

jmjohnson36

08-10-07, 09:15 PM

:up: You guys are the shiznit...LOL

p3cewo

08-10-07, 11:08 PM

Those bolts look absolutely amazing!!! :up: Please keep up the great work gang! Look forward to checking this out in game.. As has been said many times on these boards, the "immersion factor" will definately be bumped a notched when this is rolled in. ;)

lba

08-11-07, 02:05 AM

And my last two favorites... Now i believe they call this a thunderstorm :know:

http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/5674/lightninghires7sz9.th.jpg (http://img518.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lightninghires7sz9.jpg)http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/2750/lightninghires5bq0.th.jpg (http://img518.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lightninghires5bq0.jpg)

That's it guys, still have some work to do as you can see ;) but it's getting there
Wow that first shot is great, great work on those textures. :D :up: :cool: I also notice that the lightning does not appear to show through the boat. I can't see anyone mention it being solved, so has it been solved or is that shot just a lucky angle? Either way all these environment mods will sure improve this game even if there might be a few glitches that never gets solved, so thank you to all modders.

I'm sort of a coder/graphics_artist/gamer_who_prefers_playing_the_code_instead_of_the_ game myself, and I have a lot of experience from modding for other games. However I'm new to this game's structure, but hopefully I'll be able to give something back to the community as soon as I get familiarized. In the meantime I'm just studying all the great work all you current modders do, and through that get inspired to find where I can use my resources best. I know this is a bit besides the topic here, but I just wanted to tell you how you all are inspiring people like me, who lives for this, to join in. As I've mentioned I have a long list of games that I've modded behind me, but never has the community appeared so organized and knowledgeable as I see here. The fact that everyone appears civilized around here may give me a false impression, but I suspect these things sort of interconnect with each other. :hmm: Anyway keep up the good work, but don't forget to play the game, if you are into that too. :up:

:|\\

chopped50ford

08-11-07, 02:32 AM

:up: You guys are the shiznit...LOL

aint that the truth!

Hell Ya!

kapitan_zur_see

08-11-07, 06:22 AM

thanks for all your comments guys.

Glad to welcome you in LBA, it's great to have people with strong modding experience to join in! :up: I think i even crossed your name a few times, wandering around certain modding forums (flight sims maybe?). Anyway, yes, Subsim.com has possibly one of the strongest community of modders i've seen to date. Lots of people here are willing to give you advice, credits your work etc... I just love it ;)

leovampire

08-11-07, 04:24 PM

campaign mode. Because before this it only worked in C.C.'s single mission as that is where I started the work. SO no I am reworking it to be correct for the campaign side of the game.

Canonicus

08-11-07, 09:22 PM

campaign mode. Because before this it only worked in C.C.'s single mission as that is where I started the work. SO no I am reworking it to be correct for the campaign side of the game.

This is excellent news! :up:
What exactly do you have to do to the campaign mode to get the effect to show?

Cheers!

leovampire

08-12-07, 03:20 PM

zero with a brand new particles and materials file from my save of all the files after the patch then started to make changes slowly and then check and recheck like I did for the single mission but now in the campaign layers. Starting with a fresh file seems to help in the transition why no one but the DEV's can answer I think even if they know. I am sure there is something in the base part of the hard code that explains it all if we had the right programs to see and read it.

Either way at least I know how to fix it and make it work just a matter of time now I guess.

CaptainCox

08-12-07, 03:23 PM

Cheers Leo! I was gonna try this again using S3D. I even did a clean install here as i am not sure what I have "tweaked" anymore :p

Got 2 more days holiday just staying home, so if you need any testing/assistance, just yell ;)

kapitan_zur_see

08-12-07, 03:26 PM

leovampire

08-12-07, 03:44 PM

on anything as Saturday the 11th was my B Day so I am doing some things like going to the movies and all got a hair cut saw the new Harry Potter movie yesterday and the new Born Movie is tonight then out for a nice Chinese meal with my other half.

But I will be back on it tomarrow.

C.C. I have the game backed up on my external hard drive 2 ways 1 before any patch what so ever then each time after a patch so I can compair each change in the files and always get a fresh file when ever I need it.

I have 2 internal hard drives the actual game I play is on one and all the changes I make to files is on the other. Then I apply the new changed files using JSGME and while checking the new work in campaign mod make more changes on what I see needs to be done on the other hard drive where mini tweeker is.

CaptainCox

08-12-07, 03:52 PM

YAY! Happy Bday man!:sunny:
I am a huge potter fan myself :oops: Already listen to the latest Audio Book on my Ipod...should I tell you who dies ;)

Good trick that, will give it a go :)

Reaves

08-12-07, 10:28 PM

VERY interested in this mod.

Weather-guesser

08-13-07, 11:08 AM

Happy belated B-Day Leo. Take a break, relax, have a cold one and a shot on me. oops, forgot my wallet. :doh:

AVGWarhawk

08-13-07, 01:04 PM

This is coming along nicely! Nice work!

Carotio

08-13-07, 04:10 PM

We did not go to Munich after all, we went to Verdun ;) Brilliant! bloody brilliant!!!
Fort Douaumont was the highlight this summer I tell you. And yea i am a sad historic buff that rather lingers in WWI bunkers then laying on the beach ;)

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a138/CaptainCox/P1010022.jpg

The fort from the outside (this fort took some heavy artillery hits, I tell ya!

Hi CaptainCox!

This is so odd! We were the same place this summer! I was at this fort in july as well! And I made a picture of this spot from the same angle as well! :yep:
I have some photos to show as well, but in order not to hijack this thread, I have created another thread in a general section and posted the link here. Maybe you'll recognize some stuff... ;)

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?p=620550&posted=1#post620550

CaptainCox

08-14-07, 05:15 AM

WOW! will check it out. Mange tak!

leovampire

08-15-07, 09:37 PM

I can not make the new lightning textures work no matter what I try and do!

But here is what I have accomplished with the last set you guys worked on.

http://static.filefront.com/images/personal/l/leovampire/93141/vrrxcqpkix.thumb250.jpg (http://gallery.filefront.com/leovampire//721095/)

http://static.filefront.com/images/personal/l/leovampire/93141/uvrhflupqi.thumb250.jpg (http://gallery.filefront.com/leovampire//721094/)

http://static.filefront.com/images/personal/l/leovampire/93141/bcjraoemtr.thumb250.jpg (http://gallery.filefront.com/leovampire//721093/)

The materials file you sent me changes all the figures that C.C. set up the Mini tweeker to work with for the lightning. But I did notice the using S3D it does the same thing in changing values it changes them to something the game can not understand and utilize. But it did show that there are also settings for reflections on the sky, water and ships just can not make changes using S3D so maybe if C.C. wanted to look at it for the mini tweeker side of working with the values that part of the lightning effects can be worked on as well.

kapitan_zur_see

08-15-07, 10:04 PM

strange indeed :hmm: i'm going to have a deeper look at that...:damn:

leovampire

08-17-07, 06:49 PM

that is being done by C.C. and kapitan_zur_see

http://static.filefront.com/images/personal/l/leovampire/93141/wrspxgqgau.thumb250.jpg (http://gallery.filefront.com/leovampire//724414/) http://static.filefront.com/images/personal/l/leovampire/93141/wjvibhkead.thumb250.jpg (http://gallery.filefront.com/leovampire//724437/) http://static.filefront.com/images/personal/l/leovampire/93141/jghxrtaxps.thumb250.jpg (http://gallery.filefront.com/leovampire//724523/)

I just take screen shots of the close up strikes but they actualy range from 45 150
At the moment for testing purposes they strike anywhere from 3 to 5 times each but when C.C. and Kaptain Zur See say that's it for the work on the tga files for lightning I will make it so they only strike once in each spot or maybe 2 times depends on how it looks and sounds with the thunder.

WilhelmTell

08-17-07, 06:57 PM

The lightning looks really fantastic. Looks like it has almost hit the boat.
Good work on it so far, can't wait for the release ... :up:

Hartmann

08-17-07, 09:37 PM

Great work!

the lightning in the screenshots are too near!! too near ... crash dive !! :rotfl:

wovik

08-17-07, 11:41 PM

Did you get it so you can find it in a career mode?

leovampire

08-17-07, 11:50 PM

I found a grand total of 152 adjustable settings between the particles and materials and scene files for each of the 4 lightnings so it is taking a little bit of time.

The day is working great now working on the night time adjustments. Plus trying to make sure you can not see the lightning through the subs.

lighting and reflection effects for the water
lighting and reflection effects for the sky
lighting and reflection effects for all other surfaces
Global Close distance settings
Global Far distance settings
Opactities
Transparency's
Depth Bias
Life scales
Velocities
rates
spin angles
variations

and the list just goes on and on and on and on!! :doh: :damn:

wovik

08-18-07, 12:09 AM

I saw all those in the files but didn't know which did what. Sounds like it may take a while to adjust and test all those parameters. The thunder sound in SH4 is great but never see lightning in career mode. This time of the year we have lighning storms almost every afternoon to evening hours.
I hope you can get it working in career mode. I remember it seemed glued to it's starting position.

I wasn't trying to rush you, just wondered if you figured out how to make the lightning move with a storm or stay within view of your sub.

leovampire

08-18-07, 12:13 AM

and slowly it moves in a clockwise direction around the sub in differn't strike patterns and distances.

It is 150 times more complicated than the ocean effects I tell ya.

leovampire

08-18-07, 01:58 AM

Take a look at this just the sky light now the sky and ocean lighting up

http://static.filefront.com/images/personal/l/leovampire/93141/devvnkkieh.thumb250.jpg (http://gallery.filefront.com/leovampire//724845/) http://static.filefront.com/images/personal/l/leovampire/93141/fqxxmrrofs.thumb250.jpg (http://gallery.filefront.com/leovampire//724935/) http://static.filefront.com/images/personal/l/leovampire/93141/ohaflkwjgi.thumb250.jpg (http://gallery.filefront.com/leovampire//724951/) http://static.filefront.com/images/personal/l/leovampire/93141/sgpkutzgrw.thumb250.jpg (http://gallery.filefront.com/leovampire//724966/)

The more I match up numbers in all settings for all 4 lightning's between the particles and materials and scene files
the better the effects look and show up from lighting to reflections and more as you can see.
Now I am going to get the water lighting effects going. It should present a hell of a show in the game.
I am not doctoring these pictures in any way this is what I see in the game.

LukeFF

08-18-07, 02:41 AM

That is really looking good! How well does the top of the lightning strike blend in with the clouds?

leovampire

08-18-07, 02:48 AM

perfectly if that is what your asking me. That burst of light you see in the clouds is game generated not a tga or dds file the game is capable of creating these effects on it's own they were just never set to work in the first place. I have been working on the lightning and Living Breathing Ocean 12 hours a day trying to make it all work together for a final release.

This game is capable of creating some spectacular effects just none of it was working right because of the settings. They didn't finish the work that is all. We are just finishing what the Dev's started but never seemed to finish doing.

Beleve me if Captain Cox and Kapitan_zur_see hadn't started getting this going I would have been a lot slower learning what to do
in making all of this work. C.C. started with the mini tweeker file to work with in the first place then K.Z.S. with his tga work and now I owe the rest of the finishing work being done in the particles file and materials file to the S3D tool that Skwasjer created because I can't Hex read so I am using his tool to adjust the rest of the properties.

LukeFF

08-18-07, 02:49 AM

Good to hear that!

skwasjer

08-18-07, 03:45 AM

Looks great Leo, keep it up :up:

CaptainCox

08-18-07, 05:31 AM

Stunning LEO! absolutely STUNNING WORK THER!:up:
Dam me if I can't get this stuff going here (referring to PMs ;) ) I give it my best when back in a coupple of hours.

skwasjer

08-18-07, 06:49 AM

CC, please note, S3D needs a fix to work correctly with the ParticleGenerator controller. Leo found this a couple of days ago, and we worked it out together. I'll post it in my thread in a sec...

CaptainCox

08-18-07, 09:16 AM

Cheers Skwas :)

kapitan_zur_see

08-18-07, 11:19 AM

This is so pure!! so cool!!! :up::up::up: you really keep amazing me guys :smug:
Now in "light" of this (so to speak) currently working for a new top of bolts so they blends better with clouds. Oh and overcast clouds doesn't look really good with this new effect, so, well, might do a new texture for that also ;)

Keep up the good work!!! :ping:

leovampire

08-18-07, 12:53 PM

Gimmy Gimmy Gimmy ya ya ya!!!

I am totaly enjoying seeing this lightning in the game now. Lights up the sub like a christmas tree at night!

BTW I fixed some of the see through the crew stuff on deck as well while working on the lightning guys
so that will all be included too with the release.

Snakeeyes

08-18-07, 12:57 PM

Man, you are just great! It's looking so good!

leovampire

08-18-07, 06:52 PM

I know they repeate strike's too often right now but it is because of new textures comming for them so it will make it easier to see what is happening and what needs to be adjusted. Once it is decieded what we are going to use for textures I will have the lightning set at a more realistic rate.

Can be a pain in the a*s seeing each strike if set too realistic for adjustments.

Also for the lightning only it is sugested that to imbed it into the campaign layers it may take returning to base then leaving on a new patrol.

Hawk_345

08-19-07, 01:12 PM

Im amazed everyday at the quality you guys make these mods, i cant wait for this to come out. amazing work guys, just amazing.

leovampire

08-20-07, 11:38 AM

so working on the lightning effects in there now last problem should be solved in a day or two.

C DuDe

08-20-07, 01:25 PM

After reading for like 1hr through this topic, I'm utterly amazed about what you guy's can do.

Superb job! :up:

PS_ Going to have to weld a lightning rod right next to my diving platform. :yep:

leovampire

08-20-07, 01:31 PM

just have to make sure your below deck when it hit's LOL! Unless you want a high and teight for a hair due

C DuDe

08-20-07, 01:48 PM

What, and miss the show you guy's are making... Hell NO!

Got a new recruit aboard who's called shorty... going to transfer him to the watch crew.. :smug: And if it's very bad weather I'll raise my Ops.scope and put him up there, just to be safe.

leovampire

08-20-07, 07:09 PM

we need to crack this problem with the effects only working in the single mission and not in the campaign layers.

I have tryed using fresh files from when the game got it's last patch and first running the game in campaign mode. Then makeing all the changes to them that I did to get the lightning working in the first place and then trying it in the campaign and still now go.

So now what do we do guys? All the testers so far say they can only see it in the test mission and not the campaign layers. What is it we do not know and what is it we can't seem to tweek to crack that problem?

All the tga or DDS textures in the world are not going to make a bit of diff if we can't crack that one silly problem that is probably stairing at us laughing it's you know what off!

CaptainCox

08-21-07, 01:17 AM

Yea I know this is really getting sort a silly. Early on I asked one of the Dev's about the lightning in general, but never got an answer :(

Have anyone found what/where the code is for the weather stuff in career? That's probably again a long shot.

I still think that you should release your latest version of LBO (when you are 100% that is) and we can work on this on the side.

Personally I have little time these days as Frankfurt Motor Show is coming up in 2 weeks and we are super busy at work at the mo...late evenings etc. I will probably have some time during the weekend etc but... :(

EDIT: Just realized you have done it, released LBO that is :)

leovampire

08-21-07, 07:06 PM

I havn't given up and still cracking on this one day after day until I find all the the repairs to get it working in ever area of the game. It is something silly I know it is just takes time to find it.

kapitan_zur_see

08-21-07, 07:16 PM

keep up the good work guys! currently i have but very little free time so i can't really help you... I'm with you :up: hope this will be fixed sooner or later!

leovampire

08-21-07, 07:35 PM

kapitan_zur_see? Just wanted to know because there are slight ajustments to make new tga files to work correctly not the size factor just the lighting factor.

kapitan_zur_see

08-23-07, 10:18 AM

kapitan_zur_see? Just wanted to know because there are slight ajustments to make new tga files to work correctly not the size factor just the lighting factor.

What do you mean? the little problem my tgas has? don't worry i'll fix that. Just that i had very few times on my own ;)

leovampire

08-23-07, 03:28 PM

want to do or need to do and ignor me!

All I want is to get the campaign end of this working right now once that happens then I will pay attention to everything else.

Take your time and ignor me kapitan_zur_see

GT182

08-23-07, 03:34 PM

I'm no modder, but I've got a stupid question to ask. Could this be a problem with the SDK and game engine where lightning was taken away by the Devs, and causing a problem getting it back in the Campaign?

leovampire

08-23-07, 04:06 PM

but if it now works in one part of the game and not the other I am sure there is a way to get it working in both just have to find the trigger that is all.

kapitan_zur_see

08-31-07, 11:53 AM

i wonder what's your progress so far leo... still not impletemented in campaign mode?

leovampire

08-31-07, 02:55 PM

I got slowed up seeing in the campaign layers because I restarted 2 cariers with the T.M. updates from 1-4 to 1-5 and then to 1-6 so I havn't even seen all the weather patern's in the game for almost a month.

I was praying some of the testers or you would have confirmed it for me seeing I havn't gotten anywhere in the game in ages.

kapitan_zur_see

09-06-07, 11:48 AM

damn... i wonder if we'll find a way to make it work in campaign mode :cry: what a shame if not!! :down:

leovampire

09-06-07, 10:35 PM

Sent you all the work for it plus the new mod work to test and look at and see what you think and feel about it.

Your lightning files look great in the game.

The problem was on my end. I didn't match everything up perfectly in all the files and node's for the lightning missed a couple of them. Just too many settings between the materials file and particles file. Truly an example of how much dotting the I's and crossing the T's matters in this game!

Took some time but well worth it and perfect timming for the new mod.

I guess taking a break on things helps from time to time to get a clear head for old work problems.

SpeedyPC

09-07-07, 03:11 AM

G'day,

May I ask when will the Lightnings Mod becomes fully operational for the SH4 game, I love the Lightnings affect from SH3.

leovampire

09-07-07, 12:53 PM

the lightning will be included in that mod SpeedyPC.

And thanks to Kapitain_zur_see and Captain Cox the new lightning effect's will be 100 times better than orignal work. Much more realistic looking.

And I sent Kapitan_zur_see and Capitan Cox all the files for them as well.

leovampire

10-19-07, 05:19 PM

I have found some new stuff to look at and work with. For example found out how to make the lightning fallow the Sub and or camera view around for starters.

And in the night time view's when it is dark make it cause some scarry effect's of lighting up the sub / crew and ocean sea foam in some great effect's like you would see in a horror movie scene with quick flashes of glowing eye's on the crew and they become pitch black then light up like it is day time then back to normal.

Seeing I have found more to work with on it I will continue till I get it working all the time in the layers of the game along with the work on the ROW mod.

I hope to be able to get this out to everyone soon with the search light work I am doing seeing it is all in the same files materials and particles.